The Price of Perfection
by Katinchen
Summary: What if Mary Sue comes to Hogwarts and everyone knows who she is? And unluckily she isn't nearly as perfect as she is supposed to be?


"Just one thing", said Dumbledore, before the feast began, "We will have one more student this year. She is an exchange student from the United States who's in her sixth year, and she will arrive here any moment."

Dumbledore winked before he continued.

"This means we will have a Mary Sue this year – greet her adequately."

***

Finally the day had come. Today, at her sixteenths birthday, she would be at Hogwarts.

_Only a few minutes, then I'll enter the Great Hall_, she thought excitedly.

She fetched a small mirror from her robes and checked one last time her –of course wonderful – appearance.

Her long, blonde curls fell – as expected – perfectly, her big, blue eyes were exquisitely accentuated through a little bit of discreet make-up, and also the rest looked as attractive as ever.

She quickly hid the mirror as the door opened and a strict-looking woman – Professor McGonagall for sure, she had heard much about her already – asked her in.

She took a look around. The Great Hall looked amazing, especially the bewitched ceiling was absolutely splendid, since the starry sky shining in the light of the full moon was not only wonderful to look at but also perfectly fitting to her arrival.

"This is Miss…", Professor McGonagall raised one eyebrow and then continued: "Miss Hera Diana Nephtys Freya Maeve Shyla-Sharvani, or shortly, Miss Marry Sue. If you would put this hat on now? It will sort you into your house."

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs exchanged triumphant looks. Almost all Sues were sorted either into Gryffindor or into Slytherin, so the other two houses only had to endure their tempers during the lessons.

Hera self-confidently walked towards the stool with the hat.

And she should put _this_ on? This often-patched, old thing which completely lacked of style? She would have liked to sigh, but she had to keep her radiant smile on the outside, and so she went to the stool without complaining.

She was absolutely positive she'd be in Gryffindor.

Someone like her _had to be_ in Gryffindor, everything else was totally unacceptable!

But to Hera's discomfort the Hat seemed to disagree.

"Hm… Not the bravest… Neither are your thirst for knowledge or your intelligence extraordinary… There is ambition, but no other characteristic of a Slytherin…"

_Not Hufflepuff, _begged Hera desperately, _everything, but not Hufflepuff!_

"Are you completely sure?", asked the Hat.

_I am_, she answered.

For one moment Hera believed she had heard the Hat sighing, but this had been her imagination for sure.

"Okay… Then I guess it will be GRYFFINDOR!"

Reluctant applause sounded from the direction of the Gryffindor's table, just as much as courtesy required, but different from usual there wasn't a glimpse of enthusiasm in the pupil's faces.

Everyone else, especially the Slytherins, didn't hide their relief not to be punished with having Sue in their house.

Hera instantly detected her objective, Harry Potter, as always surrounded by his best friends Ron and Hermione.

_This will change soon_, Hera thought smugly. _Soon it will be _three_ best friends, not two anymore._

But again things developed differently then she had hoped.

"Why should Hermione move over? Get lost, we want to eat", Harry snarled. Usually he wouldn't have been this rude, but he had made the experience Sues only stayed away from him when he clearly told them what was up.

He demonstratively turned his back on her.

"B-but… Harry, how can you?", she asked shocked. Tears swam in her big eyes(a trick of which she was really proud – crying on cue) as she continued speaking: "After all I'm much prettier than her! I can fly better than all of you together! And besides I am the grandchild of Dumbledore, the daughter of Voldemort and your cous…"

"Yeah, yeah", Harry interrupted bored. Again one of those I-Can-Do-Everything-And-Am-The-Very-Best-Mary Sues.

Hera's eyes were dyed fire red for a second. What the hell was this guy thinking?

Everything, even her name, pointed out how extraordinary she was!

But she was distracted from her anger quite quickly again since a few first-years, who hadn't seen a Sue up until then, were whispering and pointing excitedly at her.

Hera smiled and acted modest, and her eyes changed to a colour of pure gold.

"Oh, the colour of my eyes changed according to my mood", she purred, and the first-years looked impressed, even a bit awestruck, at her.

If they knew how long it had took her to learn this damn spell! But luckily no one knew this, did they? At least the contemptuous snort of Hermione foreshadowed she guessed something.

Anyways, she had to look for a different seat before she cooled her heels.

Should she sit down with the small ones? They would at least treat her appropriately. But she couldn't sit with first-years!

Finally she decided for a free seat between Seamus Finnigan, as he introduced himself, and Colin Creevy, but both ignored the girl after a curt greeting.

And so the first evening passed. All in all it had been really unsatisfactory (apart from the food… But she had to take care of her slender body!), but this would change. This _had to_ change!

With this mission Hera started the next day.

At the beginning it seemed to be great, already at her first lesson, Charms, she proved her skill to everyone. She had nearly been the first one to master the new spell, if it hadn't been for Hermione Granger.

_Guess I have to work harder to beat her_, Hera pondered

And she did notice this not only in Charms. At every subject she'd only been the second best. Of course, everyone else was impressed nevertheless (at least a bit, she was a Sue after all), but it just wasn't enough to be the second best. She had a reputation to keep after all!

But the real disaster only happened at the end of the day.

The double period of Potions would be hell, and she already knew it at the very beginning of the lesson.

And she wasn't referring to the cold, the gloominess or the hard, uncomfortably banks of stone, no, there was worse in this dungeon. The teacher, for example.

Professor Snape read out a list of those attending the OWL-class, and as expected he paused at "S".

"Sue, Mary?", he asked dismissively.

Hera put her hand in the air.

"Here, Sir."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"I see, I see… So we have our own Mary Sue now. Miss Sue, I'm sure you won't disappoint us", he said so sarcastic it wasn't ignorable.

But this wasn't the worst. The other pupils, who should have defended her, or at least should have smiled encouragingly, grinned – even smirked, as Hera thought – at each other!

That was outrageous! She would prove to all of them that she was better than they thought, and indeed, if her neighbour wouldn't have nudged her in the wrong moment, her potion would have been perfect. _Next time!_, she promised to herself.

After the lesson she tried getting closer to Malf- uhm, Draco.

"Hey, Draco, wait!", she called throughout the complete dungeon, and he indeed stopped and looked at her without great interest.

"So", she began as soon as she reached him, "I know you're a good person, so please, Draco, free yourself from your father and show to the others how you really are! Believe me, only this will make you ha-"

Hermione had taken some pity on her and interrupted her tirade.

"He already left after the first sentence. And by the way, the other Sues were more cunning at this", and with those words she left the dungeon.

In other words – the first day had become a total letdown. And additionally she got the feeling her failed attempt at converting Draco Malfoy had got around.

But well – another thing that had got around was her knowledge, and soon everyone was admiring her for it.

Admittedly, admired was not completely the right word – at least they had noticed it.

Sadly even the first years had been elucidated about Mary Sues, and Hera could not even have the admiration she deserved from then.

Totally unjustified! She was completely different from those "Mary Sues" of which the others were talking, and she would yet prove this to them.

And if her magical ability would not be enough to ensure the adoration of the others, her skill as Seeker at Quidditch would surely do the job.

If she was really honest, she hated this sport – it was cold, uncomfortable und ruined the hairstyle (of course not hers, but it was a matter of principle).

Hera sighed. What did you do for a little bit of popularity…

When she was younger she always had complained about her Quidditch lessons, but today she was glad she had had them.

All in all, looking back she really had had a very nice childhood.

To her disadvantage, as she know perceived.

After all she needed a tragic past, that was just the way it was supposed to be! So she always had to prevaricate for everything to appear correctly. Well, she didn't lie – she just arranged everything until it fit was what she always told herself.

"I never got pocket money (…but my foster parents bought me absolutely everything I wanted to have)", "I never had any friends (…but many _girl_friends[annotation: doesn't really work in English, any suggestion on that?)", "No one wanted to talk to me at school (…but why talk? Exchanging small notes was way less obvious. Oh, and if one wanted to be really accurate she probably should have said 'during the lessons'…)" were only a few examples.

The next week was not going to be better, Hera had to discover after a while. She sighed. The other pupils didn't treat her any better than anyone else, rather worse, the lessons weren't as easy as they were supposed to be, and anyway, everything was wrong! Why did she have to change school…? This small explosion back then hadn't been _this_ tragic… But she shouldn't ponder so much about it, this wouldn't change anything anyway, she should rather start her homework.

Hera looked around. Finally the Common Room was emptying, so she could start studying now. Nobody knew it, but she wasn't like Hermione who seemed to score all her good marks so easily. Hera had to sit in the Common Room studying for hours and hours. And of course no one should ever notice this, and so she gave her very best to hide her nightly occupation from the other Gryffindors. Hour after hour she sat there, studied names and dates, ingredients and effects of potions, herbs and their use, transfigurations and spells…

She sighed relievedly. Finally she had made it. Hera took a quick look at her watch. _Good, a little bit of time left_, she thought. At least a few hours of sleep…

This was Hera's biggest problem: because she had to study so much every night she already didn't sleep much. And since she additionally had to get up really early…

The truth was, to be really honest, not _completely_ as she had described it. Of course, she didn't lie when she had said her hairstyle wouldn't be messed up by Quidditch, but that was only due to tons of hair gel, hair spray and a number of spells. Neither had her good looks been served to her on a silver platter, and so she needed ages every morning to dress up, and between studying and styling there wasn't much time for sleep…

This led to being unfocused, so she had to study more in the evening, which led to less sleep… A vicious circle which only the weekend might break before everything began anew.

_But no use in whining_, she thought,_ this is what's necessary and that's it._

Luckily she had finished by now, because her eyes would close any moment, and this armchair was so incredibly comfortable… And indeed, the very second she stopped focusing she was fast asleep.

After few hours she was woken up already.

Hera twinkled sleepily at the Phoenix which had appeared in front of her, waking her up with its lovely singing. Every time she looked at it she felt a little bit of pride. It hadn't been easy to find a phoenix, and it had been even harder to make it stay with her. Well, if she was completely honest this phoenix wasn't really with her voluntarily… Back then, at the Quidditch World Cup, there had been this drunk wizard, and with not much of an effort she had convinced him of betting his phoenix. So now it stayed with her, if it wanted to or not.

And as alarm clock it was impressive, one had to admit this.

Panting, Hera returned to the Castle.

She slowly got used to her morning laps all around the grounds, but they still were really exhausting. And as soon she got used enough to her pensum to be in a good state after jogging it was increased.

She took a quick shower and then went back into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Arriving, the girl summoned some mirrors. Merlin, she looked dreadful! Her hair would need hours again, and those dark circles around her eyes would probably not even disappear completely with the help of a spell.

But after a while she had at least mastered her hair, with the help of the means mentioned before.

"Not bad", commented the mirror. "But the rest still looks terrible!"

Hera snorted. As if she wouldn't know this herself!

After a few minutes she examined herself in the mirror again. She had been proven right, the dark circles around her eyes couldn't even be – as so often those last days – hidden with the help of spells. But well, what did she have make-up for? (Not too much of course, after all she didn't want to be said to only be pretty with the help of make-up.)

Sports, make-up, what did you do to live up to your reputation…

Finally she was done! She let herself fall into one of the armchairs and relaxed. That felt so nice! She even almost fell asleep again, when she heard some noises coming from the stairs.

"…'ll be the new Chaser", she heard Ron say who was in an exceptionally good mood for such an early hour.

She had totally forgot about this! Today would be the Quidditch tryouts! But well, she had to do them if she wanted to or not, otherwise her whole training would have been for nothing. And she wouldn't accept having endured so much pain without any reason!

"Morning, Harry, morning, Ron", she greeted them, acting happy. Of course she acted well; she wouldn't allow herself to do anything else. Anyone in her position who wasn't a good actor wouldn't last long.

"Are you looking forward to Quidditch as much as I am?", she continued and beamed at the boys, "I'll definitely join the tryouts, it's always good to have a second Seeker, isn't it?"

Harry was moaning quietly. That was the last thing he needed! A Sue who wanted his position. But one had to keep up the appearance…

"Yes, of course", he responded just as faked as she did, but much easier to see through. Ron however just mumbled something incomprehensible, he didn't even really try to hide it.

"I'm going to eat breakfast", she said, still smiling, and left the Common Room through the portrait hole.

As soon as she turned her back on them her smile faded. She wasn't enthusiastic about having to play Quidditch neither, but that was just the way it was supposed to be.

How much would she like to be just herself, to eat as much as she'd want to, to skip this exhausting early morning exercises and just be content with average marks, but she didn't have a choice! Just as she didn't wish for her relation to this tyrant Voldemort and didn't want to hear everyone whispering behind her back that she'd be preferred by the teachers because she was related to Dumbledore and Harry.

But something in her always kept her from doing something… Well, something… Something… Something simply _normal_, from _abandoning_ her special position.

Until just a moment ago the day had been normal, but now she'd have to meet her fate.

_Quidditch._ How much tremendousness could be included in one word.

Even though it was slowly becoming evening it still was pleasantly warm, and everywhere on the grounds there were pupils to be seen. How much Hera envied them! She had to grin at this thought. Probably all the other pupils envied _her_, because she would be in the Quidditch team, and would have no understanding for her behaviour whatsoever.

_Well, at least now I can claim I'd be misunderstood without lying_, thought Hera, trying to see the positive side of it.

The girl heard loud voices. Apparently she had almost arrived at the pitch. When she saw the sky several moments later this was confirmed: the great loops rose there, and some of the players of the Gryffindor team had started warming up.

As she arrived at the pitch all the heads turned to her, just as it should be. The following reacting, however, wasn't completely according to the rules: most of the ones present moaned – more or less hushed.

Even though she answered this with an even more radiant smile, she was bubbling beneath the surface. If it had been only this one time she could have ignored it, but no matter where she went, it was always the same!

It wasn't her fault that she was a bit… Well, perfectionistically minded. And she hadn't chose her family neither!

"…ary? Hey, Mary? Mary Sue? Someone there?!", shouted Katie, who had become Captain of the team this year. "It's your turn."

Damn! Oh, crap, she shouldn't thin- Again. These surroundings definitely weren't good for her.

"I'm coming, sorry, I was dreaming a bit", she apologized and fetched her broomstick. This was also followed by mumbling, but this time the tone was completely different.

She barely understood a word, but the pieces of conversation she heard now attested to admiration, the admiration she should be granted for long already. There was only one problem: the admiration wasn't directed at her but at her broomstick, the newest which was available at the market. She was sighing lowly before she mounted her broom. Better than nothing…

Katie threw her the Quaffle.

"First we examine your passes", she shouted towards Hera.

One moment, there was something wrong… What should she do with the Quaffle as a Seeker?!

"Stop…! That's a mistake!", she corrected Katie. "I want to play as second Seeker."

The Captain sceptically raised an eyebrow. Second Seeker…? Oh well, even if she was a Mary Sue, the girl had to be given a chance.

"Harry, let loose the Snitch", she ordered, and then turned to Hera. "Okay, show us how good you are."

Moments after the Snitch was let loose she completely shut off. The only thing she focused on was two small golden wings and the low noise of their flapping.

Even if she didn't like it, this was one of the few things she was really talented at.

Fitfully she turned her head. Hadn't she just heard some flapping? No, she had been wrong. It was only a bird, nothing else.

The Seeker looked around, and one moment later she really discovered a golden sparkle. Instantly her broomstick moved, almost as by itself. The landscape around her was blurred. In few seconds she had reached the Snitch. She mustn't lose it now…! Over there, there it was, only a few metres… She extended her arm, and… she got it! In a really short time she had got it! Beaming she landed one moment later close to the other players. At least close to most of the other players, she corrected herself, since she saw Katie a few metres away from her and apparently talking at Harry intensely.

"…am sorry too, Harry, but even though she's a Mary Sue, she is better than you! I don't like it neither, but it's the best for the team", Hera heard Katie say.

Harry turned without another word and went away, but Hera still had been able to get a glimpse on his face. _Apparently he's completely beside himself because of what Katie said to him_, she assumed.

"Harry, wait!, Katie cried, but he completely ignored her. Helpless she turned to the rest of the team.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop him… I have to discuss something with you."

She couldn't believe it. She, Hera, had really not only become second Seeker but had got Harry's position! Of course, this also meant she had to join all the matches and that would for sure be inconvenient from time to time, but she was also proud in a way.

_All the work finally paid off_, she thought beaming. And besides there'd be the possibility to get a bit closer to Harry, a common hobby would for sure be of much help, she was sure of that.

But as so often her guess had been quite off. When she entered the Common Room Harry was nowhere to be seen, and she wouldn't find him until breakfast at the next morning. Happily she walked towards him, hoping her cousin would finally talk to her, now that they had more in common than just being related.

Only a few minutes later she'd wish he'd still behave as formal towards her as he did before.

"Hi Harry", she greeted him cheerfully, but he didn't answer. Hermione and Ron, who sat next to Harry, gestured wildly, but Hera just didn't understand what they tried to say.

"Harry, what's up? Why don't you talk to me?", she kept on trying.

Again there was no answer.

"Please, Harry, what did I do to you? Tell me at least!", the girl demanded desperately, and indeed, Harry prepared to speak.

"What you did to me? You really ask? YOU JUST STORM INTO MY LIFE, CLAIM YOU'D BE MY COUSIN, AND IF THIS WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH YOU TAKE MY FAVOURITE HOBBY AWAY FROM ME! _AND YOU SERIOUSLY ASK ME WHAT YOU DID TO ME?!", _Harry screamed into her face.

Hera started as Harry began screaming at her, and tears filled her now black eyes.

"B-But… I thought you'd be proud of me and… And you'd now that we have a common hobby finally… Finally talk to me", she sniffed. A few of the boys who were around the scene felt a sudden urge to hug and comfort her, but all managed to resist. _This has to be the feared magic of the Mary Sues_, one of them thought, appalled, and promised himself to never, ever fall for it.

Harry's face was distorted by rage, while Hera really started crying now. Tears ran over her cheeks, but her cousin didn't seem to feel even a little bit of pity, while everyone else was staring somewhat shocked at Harry's outburst.

"PROUD OF YOU?! IF YOU WOULDN'T BE A MARY SUE YOU COULDN'T FLY NEARLY AS WELL AS YOU DO NOW! DON'T GET COCKY ABOUT YOUR SKILLS, YOU NEVER HAD TO WORK FOR ANYTHING, HAD YOU?! AND BESIDES, DO YOU HONESTLY EXPECT ME TO BE PROUD OF YOU, _PROUD_, BECAUSE YOU STOLE MY PLACE IN THE TEAM?!", Harry continued shouting.

Hera, by now a sobbing picture of misery, nodded weakly and ran out of the Great Hall into the Common Room, threw herself into her bed and cried into her pillow. All of this was so wrong! Despite her efforts she was unable to become the best pupil, no one liked her or was impressed by her skills, and now, when she finally had done something right, she was just becoming more unpopular due to this. Harry actually should have been proud of her and should have given her his position honourably and benevolently, because she was better than him and he admitted it! It never should have happened this way, never! Since she was here everything seemed to go wrong…

_I wish I'd never have come_, she thought still crying.

_Stop wallowing in self-pity and do something!_, she suddenly scolded herself, _That won't help you neither. Get up, work harder and don't whine all the time, because _this_ won't help anyone. And stop this crying first!_

In the course of the day, the situation got calmer, but from this day on Harry and Hera avoided each other. At the occasions where they nevertheless met, mostly at the lessons, they treated each other rather formally, reserved and carefully, always trying to avoid a situation like at that breakfast. Because of the Quidditch practice Hera had even less time than before, and that also affected her marks. Her homework became sloppier, and because of the lack of sleep she wasn't able to follow the lessons properly anymore.

Hera sat up, yawning. Weekend! Of course she still had to get up as early in the morning as always, but at least there was one day at which she didn't have to do any tasks. Today she would simply relax and do nothing special...

Oh da...! She indeed _would_ do something special, Hera remembered horrified. Today was her first Quidditch match as Seeker of Gryffindor! _And even against Slytherin, _she thought frightened, _if I'm doing any mistake there then my number is up._

While she was working on her looks she did some serious mistakes for the first time in a long period, and it took the girl even longer than usual. Her only comfort was that the rest of the Gryffindors would surely sleep late, so she was in no hurry.

If it had been up to her, she'd never even entered the Great Hall in which she'd be constantly reminded of the upcoming match, and definitely not the Quidditch pitch.

When Hera finally did sit in the Great Hall and ate breakfast her nervousness continued to get worse, and she barely managed to eat anything.

_At least I don't have to worry about getting fat now_, she though with a grim sense of humour. Apparently some of her school mates tried to calm her, but Hera barely noticed them. There was only one thing she could think of, and this was the approaching match.

After a while, in which she had barely eaten anything, she saw that Katie and her other team mates were leaving.

_Now the time comes_, she thought nervously. Hera had the feeling her head had sunk to somewhere around her boots, and nevertheless it was probably beating loudly enough to annoy every single pupil of Hogwarts.

"Don't stay behind!", Katie shouted, and being awakened from her reverie she hastily got up and followed the others to the Quidditch pitch.

Outside it was rather pleasant, neither too warm nor too cold. _On the broom this will change rather quickly_, she thought gloomily. Her only hope was to finish the match fast, and she'd do _everything_ for that.

When they arrived at the changing room Katie had just held a short speech to prepare the team for the game, but Hera did not hear much of it. She was too busy with her nervousness about the match, and no speech would be able to change anything about that.

At the moment the teams entered the pitch they were greeted by loud cheering of the audience, and for one moment all her insecurity disappeared. This is how she should have been treated from the very beginning, this was her calling!

Completely intoxicated by this feeling she had nearly missed the starting signal, but the commentary got her back into reality.

Who was this...? She knew the voice but wasn't able to relate it to somebody. _Must be a guy from another year_, contemplated Hera.

One Moment later Madam Hooch blew the whistle and Hera rose up into the air. From now on it was essential to let all the background noises fade out and to not be distracted by anything, to only focus on the Snitch.

Hera flew a good deal above all other players to get an overview of the pitch. The game was already in full activity, and as her concentration dropped for a moment she heard the commentator – who by Merlin was it? – rant loudly about an apparently very unfair foul.

She allowed herself to watch the penalty shot of her team instead of looking for the snitch for one moment, just as Malfoy who still was the Seeker of Slytherin. Katie took the Quaffle. She struck out, threw it – to Ginny. While all the attention was at the goalposts of Slytherin Katie had given the Quaffle to Ginny, who scored fast as lightning.

Hera was beaming at Ginny when she suddenly perceived a golden sparkle at the back of the scorer's head. Instantly everything else was forgotten, there was only her and the Snitch. While she was racing towards the tiny ball she neither noticed the excited commentary nor the fact that Malfoy also was flying to Ginny.

She was nearly there, one more moment... Hera outstretched her arm when she suddenly felt something at the end of her broomstick. Whatever it was, she definitely had no time for it! The girl kicked at the molester, with much force and high heels, and at the same time closed her hands around the Snitch. They had won!

As if on a command her other senses started working again. The audience was cheering, just as the commentator, and behind her there was a howling cry of pain. Puzzled she turned around before landing. Malfoy was holding his right hand, and when she caught a glimpse of its inside she saw a deep, pointed mark. _As if it was of boots_, she thought for a moment, until it became clear to her who was responsible for it.

When she landed half of the pitch was already flooded by red-clad pupils, and even Hera wasn't the outlawed Mary Sue but the successful Seeker. Shortly before she was leaving the pitch with the celebrating Gryffindors Malfoy approached Hera.

"I got no clue why they took you; even Potter would have caught the Snitch faster than that!", he jeered while his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, grinning.

Who the hell did he think he was?! Inwardly furious she continued walking. She had needed just a bit more than five minutes, and now he was simply jealous because he didn't catch the Snitch! _Besides he clung to my broomstick and I did it nevertheless. He should try to match that!_, she thought angrily.

_This arrogant, priggish...! _On the way to the common room her anger grew bigger and bigger, and when she arrived she had egged herself on so much that her red-tinted eyes _really_ seemed to glow.

Suddenly there was a big bang that could be heard in the whole castle, apparently coming from a massive explosion. One moment later there was an unnatural silence which was broken almost immediately by screams and shouts. The Creevey-brothers whispered excitedly to each other, Parvati and Lavenda started screaming and most pupils drew there wands in a flash. Only Hera stayed calm, but nobody noticed it in the chaos.

Hermione, who tried to stop the upcoming panic, tried to gain attention through shouting "Be quiet!", enhanced by a Sonorus.

"Stay calm and don't get into a panic", she told her schoolmates, "I'll go to Professor McGonagall and ask her what happened."

Hera started sweating. It was now or never. Shyly she rose to speak in the silence left by Hermione's words.

"That… Well, that won't be necessary. Maybe let's finish getting into the Common Room and I'll explain what that was."

Everyone looked rather surprised at this, and some whispering started again. But when Hera started leading the way to the Common Room they followed her. After arriving they gathered around her, and a perceptive observer might have noticed the change of her eye colour from a deep red to light blue.

"Well… To be honest…", she started, "I somehow exaggerated with my anger at Malfoy." Damn! The only thing that was real about her was again and again her doom. After all she hadn't changed to Hogwarts without a reason...

"Thing is, I have... special powers, one could say. And when I am very angry this can get a bit out of control...", she explained.

"And what does that mean in plain language?", Ron asked gruffly.

All the heads turned from Ron to Hera again. Now it got interesting!

Hera sight under her breath. Somewhen the time had to have come at which she couldn't beat around the bush anymore.

"To make it short: The boy's dormitory of the Slytherins of our year probably just exploded."

That was lucky, Hera thought relieved.

At her "small" outburst nobody had been hurt, since none of the boys had made it into the dormitory yet. But, Hera thought not without some malicious joy, the Slytherins would have to temporarily move now.

The other Gryffindors, who found the event highly amusing in retrospective, hadn't exposed Hera's role in it after her asking for it, and so she got off lightly this time.

Now that she was thinking about it she was treated much more friendly by her schoolmates now, who obviously did not begrudge the Slytherins the loss at Quidditch as well as the explosion afterwards.

Only Hermione had not joined in the common gloating, as was fitting for a Prefect, and instead warned her that this should not happen again, but even she didn't seem to really mean it.

All in all Hera _really_ got away very very lightly.

Some time passed, and the Gryffindors kept their promise.

Admittedly, Hera had more than enough other problems without having to change school once more: because of her lack of sleep she drank huge amounts of coffee every morning, and nearly every day she had to get a bit more. Luckily she had an elf who brought a massive amount of cups to her each morning, otherwise she'd most likely be halfway dead already. But there was a small ray of hope for Hera, because the first Hogsmeade weekend was coming up. It would take place at Halloween, she only had to hold out until then. Even though she of course had to take care that nobody would see her – Hera planned on buying an Auto-Answer-Quill to get at least a bit more sleep. Just a few more days…! First she'd go to Honeydukes and buy some sweets, then obtain the quill and afterwards she'd just relax at The Three Broomsticks. What a prospect…

Hera was at Honeydukes when she suddenly heard some noise – the noise of battle? The other people in the shop obviously had heard it too, because some looked around with a scared face, others discussed loudly enough for Hera to hear what the source of the noises could be and a few ones didn't let themselves be disturbed by the noise, considering it to be a joke done with the help of Zonko's. Hera fought her way to the door through the masses of pupils when it suddenly was pushed open.

A man was standing in the doorway, a man who looked like he ran faster than ever before in his life. After having recovered enough to speak he gasped: "You… You-Kn… You-Know-Who is here!"

The last words he positively shouted into the store, and for a moment nothing stirred inside Honeydukes. No person moved, nobody spoke a word, most people didn't even seem to breathe.

After the words had reached her mind, Hera ran. Behind her, inside Honeydukes, movement and noise slowly returned, but Hera missed this. She did not know where she ran to but just let herself be guided by her instincts when she saw Harry in the distance. He just turned into a small side road, and to catch up to him and not lose him she'd have to speed up quite a lot. But somehow she'd make it, she had to.

After approximately half of the way Hera stopped, panting. Damned be her shortness of breath! She had stitches and barely got any air. _But nevertheless, Hera, you _have to_ continue!_, she thought. A bit more slowly she continued the way, after having done a short break to get back her breath.

_You've nearly made it!_, she urged herself on, _Just a bit more and you at least arrived at the side road!_

She preferred to ignore that Harry could be long gone. And, as she saw a moment later, she had been right to ignore it, because Harry still seemed to be there. Otherwise her father, who also was at the scene, would never have shouted "Good riddance, Harry Potter!" in such a sneering, confident w- Wait! Damn it! Voldemort was on the verge of killing Harry and all she was doing was standing around philosophizing about how he was saying an eternal goodbye to him!

"Adavra Kedavra!" and the sound of a body crashing onto the ground were the last things Hera heard before finally breaking away from the shock and running into the side road.

There was Voldemort, and as she quickly looked around she also discovered Harry who lay motionless at the wall of a house. Harry, no…! He couldn't, he mustn't be dead!

Furiously she turned to Voldemort.

"You will pay for this!", she shouted with tears in her eyes. "You did not only kill Harry-"

"He i-", Voldemort interrupted her with an annoyed voice, but Hera did not let herself be mislead.

"-did not only kill Harry, but also tore apart countless other families, murdered both wizards and Muggles for no reason, forced wizards to do things they had never ever wanted to do, tortured others… What the hell, how long does that blathering continue?", Hera said suddenly. In front of her a piece of paper on whose backside "MSN – Behaviour Department" was written in big letters, and small at the bottom "MSM – The Mary Sue Ministry", materialized out of thin air.

"Yes, I _know_ this is part of the procedure, but-"

Another piece of paper appeared.

"I know that a rule is a rule, but I finally want to avenge the death of my cousin!", she erupted.

Another piece of paper appeared – this time it flew down from the sky, right into Hera's hands, but she ignored it.

"So, where was I…? Voldemort, you goddamn bastard, DIE!", Hera shouted wrathfully.

Just one moment later the earth seemed to open below the feet of Voldemort, and his loud outcry drowned in the noise and the big flame that now shot out of the opening.

But Hera barely noticed any of this, because she had long ago arrived where Harry was. She did not have to worry about Voldemort surviving, she knew the powers being a Sue gave her.

Tears returned to her eyes as she was bending over Harry.

"Harry, please, no, you must not be dead!", she sobbed, "Please, Harry, wake up, please! Harry, don't leave me! I love you!"

"What?!"

While Hera had held her small speech she hadn't noticed how Harry had slowly opened his eyes and so had heard everything she said, especially this last sentence.

"I l- You're alive?!", she interrupted herself. "But I thought you'd be dead!"

"Yes, I am alive, and now tell me what you meant with that!", he demanded. "I thought you were my cousin!"

"I am, but... How by Merlin did you survive?"

"The curse didn't hit me", Harry replied in an annoyed tone. "I evaded it, hit my head at this wall pretty hard and must have fallen into unconsciousness. And now it's your turn."

"Well, you know…", Hera stammered and dug inside her pockets, "This… Well, this is the proper behavior." Apparently she had found what she was looking for, because now she showed him a small booklet. Again it was written "MSM – Behavior Department" on its backside in big letters. After quickly thumbing through it she read out a line:

"_If the Hero cannot be saved, then apart from the usual phrases ('You can't be dead!', 'Don't leave me!') there should __**without fail**__ be a confession of love."_

"So, that means you don't…"

"No, I don't really mean it", Hera clarified. "There is a completely diff- uhm, there isn't anyone."

"Malfoy", Harry said gloomily.

Hera flushed a bit.

"No, not Malfoy, a completely different person…"

Harry was visibly surprised.

"But... If it's neither me nor Malfoy, then who?" Evidently he could not make head or tail of this strange behaviour of this Sue.

"Well...", now Hera's faces was really absolutely red, "Isn't Neville unbelievably cute?", it burst out of her.

Harry was speechless.

On the way back to the school Harry still hadn't spoken a word to Hera, but at least this time he didn't seem to be angry at her. Hogsmeade seemed to be deserted, apparently all the pupils had been evacuated and barely any inhabitants of the village were in the streets. The Death Eaters had disapparated as soon as they noticed that something was wrong with their master, and not even animals were to be seen in the ruins that were lying in many streets, evidence that fights had taken place.

Shortly before they arrived at the gates of Hogwarts Harry stopped abruptly.

"Say, Mary Sue... Did you ever think about becoming completely normal?"

"What do you mean, 'completely normal'? You mean looking like everyone else, having the same marks as them, an owl instead of a Phoenix, eyes that don't change their colour, a common name and so on?", she asked insecurely, and her eye colour changed from a light blue to green and back again all the time.

Harry followed the rapid change of colours for a moment but then did not let himself be distracted anymore.

"...yes, that's exactly what I mean", he replied.

Now her eye colour ultimately changed to green.

"And you think I can do it?", she asked hopefully.

This Mary Sue was surprising Harry again and again. She was really not a typical one...

"Why not? First of all you need a new name", he decided. "How about…", and now Harry proved endless creativity, "How about Maria?"


End file.
